LA Speed Check Story by SR-71 Blackbird Pilot Major Brian Shul USAF (Ret.) - A Pilot's Story

Throughout its nearly 24-year career, the Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird Mach 3-strategic reconnaissance aircraft remained the world’s fastest and highest-flying operational aircraft. From 80,000 feet, it could survey 100,000 square miles of Earth’s surface per hour.

So it comes as no surprise if, thanks to its astonishing flight characteristics, the aircraft has set numerous speed and altitude records throughout its career.

Nevertheless the Blackbird wasn’t an easy plane to fly as SR-71 pilot Brian Shul recalls in his book Sled Driver. “There were a lot of things we couldn’t do in an SR-71, but we were the fastest guys on the block and loved reminding our fellow aviators of this fact. People often asked us if, because of this fact, it was fun to fly the jet. Fun would not be the first word I would use to describe flying this plane—intense, maybe, even cerebral."

Here now is the LA Speed Check Story by SR-71 Blackbird Pilot Major Brian Shul USAF (Ret.) - A Pilot's Story . . . .